Pinocchio 964 — Pinocchio 964( Blu Ray)
Pinocchio 964 is an early 90s Japanese cyberpunk/ surreal horror film regarding an abandoned cyborg sex slave, who is found and initially helped by a homeless woman. The film is often a maniacal, deranged ride, full of up-close/low-angle shots, twitching limbs, with moments of vomit, blood, and a generally anxiety-inducing tone/ feel. Here from 88 Films is a recent Blu-ray release of the film, taking in new/ archive interviews, and a few shorts by the same director.
Pinocchio 964 ( aka Pinokio rûto kyû-roku-yon, Screams of Blasphemy) is from the year 1991. It was the first feature-length film by filmmaker and industrial musician Shozin Fukui. In total, he has ten credits to his name- these take in six features and four shorts- his features go from mind-altering drug-focused sci-fi/ horror Rubbers Lover (1996), painting on naked female flesh focused documentary Hentai Rando ( 2004), and curse DVD horror/ thriller Den-Sen (2006).
The film opens in black and white, first focusing on a smoke/ steam engulfed item- before going into a rapid cut-up collage sequence- taking in naked entangled women, a hospital corridor, a doctor-like figure with gloves on, and a few other things….this is ended by a figure been dragged out of a building- this is are first look at our lead character Pinocchio 964 (Haji Suzuki)- he’s a tall/ thin man, with a almost full shaved head with a horn of hair at the font, and he’s wearing a white hasmat suit.
Next, we meet our other lead character, Himiko(Onn-chan)- she a twenty-something woman with a black bob haircut, wearing a beret, and a combat jacket/trousers. She is sitting in the middle of a busy street- a map below her, and a pair of binoculars in her hands. She spots the strange, staggering & darting figure of Pinocchio 964 coming towards her, before he promptly collapses in her lap. She takes the manically darting & bobbing humanoid cyborg back to her underground, dank, and half-lit home.
As the film unfolds Himiko starts trying to get the constantly physically glitching and twitching Pinocchio 964- to speak, stay still, and become somewhat normal. Quite a few of the film's scenes are captured in public places like supermarkets, high streets, and tube stations- with first the Cyborg acting erratically/ odd, then later Himiko herself starts acting out.
There is a very light trace of a plot, with initially Himiko helping out Pinocchio 964, before turning on him, and a group of closely hair-cropped men sent out to track down the cyborg.
The focus of the film is basically to make you feel as uneasy, on edge, and anxiety-fuelled as possible. This is realised by a blend of up-close & low-angled shots, darting heads and twitching limbs, and sinister/ oppressive industrial ambient soundscaping. From time to time, we have moments of either twitching & blood mouths, lumpy vomiting, or yellow ‘n’ red face melting.
Both of our leads truly put their all into the roles, but Suzuki is the most impressive, as he never lets his character of a cyborg drop, moving between a twitching and darting frame, to a screaming & moaning mess, to an emotionally troubled/ deeply tragic figure.
I’d say as a film, Pinocchio 964 is just on the edge of being an arthouse film, as it often goes into either go into a manic, or horror-fuelled freefall. You’ll need to be fairly grounded and not in the least bit anxious to check the film out….and don’t even think about taking psychedelics while watching it, as I reckon it could truly unhinge you- possibly for good!.
This new Blu-ray is a region B disc- the scan looks well defined/ balanced throughout, not sure if this is a new scan for this release - but it generally looks very good.
On the extras side, we get a good blend of new & archive things. On the new side, we get a filmed interview with director Shozin Fukui (20.36). The stripped-beaney, bespectacled, and ragged/ thinly bearded filmmaker moves from talking about his work in bands at university, and working as an assistant director on Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989). He touches on his early short films, before discussing the film at hand, talking about how the cast came about, the film's month-long filming, etc. Intro from Stephen Thrower( 15.50), which finds the author/ film commentator discussing the picture, moving from talking about how it overwhelms all the senses, its influence/inspiration, etc. Both of these are well worth a play.
On the archive side, we get an Interview with director Shozin Fukui( 32.56), and two early short films- Gerorisuto ( 11.05) from 1986, and Caterpillar ( 32.04) from 1988- both of these sit at the more manic/ arthouse side of things.
Pinocchio 964 is a film that well and truly engulfs its viewer, taking you on a truly deranged and anxiety-inducing ride. It’s wonderful to see 88 Films giving it a release, with a great scan, and worthy extras.